These photos are so exciting to share with you! We’ve been busy working on several projects around the house because Romantic Homes will be visiting our home next week to photograph it for a Fall feature…Eeeekkk! Needless to state, I am anxious about finishing several projects, including the big one on our house’s exterior.
When we built our house, one of the first things we planned was to add shutters to the exterior windows. We did not want to abandon it, but time passed, and other priorities took precedence. When Romantic Homes called, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. Although I’m not sure if they will take photos of my exterior, it is an excellent excuse to complete a few projects we had been putting off.
These are before photos of some of the windows. They looked great! They look spotless and neat. Some windows in our home needed shutters, despite the beautiful style. This is the area at the back of the house, near the garage and the back porch.
I didn’t begin with putting shutters up. These windows were my first step. I added planter boxes. I came across these planter boxes online while searching for something different. It was the perfect thing to add to my windows, so I ordered them and had them installed by our handyman.
Side note: Did you know my husband cannot touch the tools? Although he’s great at many other things, he could be handier. So I have a handyman to help me hang planter boxes. I’m pretty handy. I am proficient with a power drill and can turn a picture like no one’s business…but that’s another story. Let’s get back to shutters.
After the planter boxes had been hung, I filled them with beautiful plants. They added charm to my home, and I could have made do with them, but it still felt that the shutters were missing. Shutters were also needed for several other windows in the house. I searched online for pre-made shutters but quickly realized that our windows were too large to fit standard-size shutters. So I called a local company.
Since they were the most natural-looking style for our home, we chose the board and batten design. I wanted black strap hinges that would look best on this shutter. We decided to make ours 16 inches wide, according to the measurement done by the guy.
We wanted shutters to be placed around thirteen windows. So that we had a limited number of options, we had to ensure that the windows had enough space on both sides. We wanted the exterior not to become too “gingerbready” is that a term? We wanted to add charm but not go overboard. It was easy to determine which shutter to use and ignore.
The shutters were initially intended to be painted a “color.” We had considered a deeper charcoal gray or lighter French blue. We had some time to think about the options before we made our final decision. We settled on the dark gray, almost black, and then the primed shutters arrived.
My flower studio has a new look!
When we saw shutters in white, my husband and I thought the same thing. We both thought, “Is there any reason they aren’t doing it white?” So we took one, and I must admit that I was initially underwhelmed. Then we held them up with hardware, and that was it. The contrast between the dark hardware and the white shutters was terrific.
To match the trim, we (and I do not mean our painter) painted Benjamin Moore Decorators White shutters.
A confession about shutter hardware is something I have to make. We were in a hurry, so I searched online for hardware. I was looking for what I could find quickly. I knew I wanted the “strap hinges” and the little curly things (I quickly learned they are called pintels) at the bottom of my shutters. These were easy to find and arrived in a reasonable time frame, so I ordered them. They came, and it became clear that I needed to read the description better. They were not metal, as I assumed, but vinyl.
When I saw their realistic appearance, I was ready to send them back and start again. However, nobody was going to touch them. They were mainly located on windows higher than our house, so I decided to give them a shot. They look great, and no one could tell the difference. They were also half the price! Happy mistake…Yay!)
